The World Bank will extend $150 million for
strengthening the accountability and reporting project which supports
the government goals to improve public financial management and restore
the integrity of state institutions.

Official sources said the objective of the plan was
to increase the "accuracy, completeness, reliability, and
timeliness of intra-year and year-end government financial reports in
Pakistan at the national, provincial and district level."

The project aims at providing the government and the
people of Pakistan with credible financial data in a reliable,
comprehensive and timely manner at the national, provincial, district
and tehsil levels with vital financial performance information
throughout the year.

The project will also enhance the government capacity
for designing a medium-term framework to prepare budgets on a rolling
three-year basis and strengthen the government's administrative and
management powers. However, the World Bank believed that the
sustainability of the projects depended upon continued government
commitment to the reform agenda.

The World Bank said that learning lessons from the
past operations, a comprehensive reform was essential for the
implementation of the capacity enhancement projects to succeed, and
implementing agencies must include staff who were prepared to act as
agents of change in order to maintain the momentum of improvements.

PETROL PRICES RAISED BY 25 PAISA

Except for cut in high speed diesel (HSD) and light
diesel oil (LDO) prices by 27 paisa and nine paisa per litre
respectively, the Oil Companies Advisory Committee (OCAC) on Wednesday
increased the prices of petrol by 25 paisa per litre.

The committee has also raised the prices of high
octane blending component (HOBC) by 26 paisa, kerosene by 42 paisa, JP-4
by 35 paisa and JP-1 by 38 paisa per litre respectively.

The new ex-depot fixed sale price will be effective
from August 1 to 15 at the 29 designated locations, says a press
release.

The new price of petrol has been enhanced to Rs33.84
per litre from Rs33.59 per litre, while kerosene will now cost Rs17.64
per litre as against Rs17.22 per litre.

The new rate of HOBC has been fixed at Rs38.33 per
litre as compared to Rs38.07 per litre. The new ex-depot prices of JP-4
and JP-1 will be Rs16.19 per litre and Rs12.65 per litre as against
previous rates of Rs15.84 per litre and Rs12.27 per litre respectively.

The price of diesel has been decreased to Rs19.08 per
litre from Rs19.35 per litre, while LDO prices have been slashed to
Rs16.16 per litre from Rs16.25 per litre.

POL PRODUCTS' PRICES ROSE

The prices of petroleum products have increased by an
average of 67 per cent, including 126 per cent rise in the furnace oil's
prices, since October 1999, according to official statistics.

After the increase in the prices of furnace oil, the
prices of light diesel oil (LDO) went up by 90 per cent, high speed
diesel by 79 per cent, kerosene by 68 per cent, JP-4 by 41 per cent,
HOBC by 33 per cent and premium by 30 per cent.

The increase in the prices of the top two products
— furnace oil (126 per cent) and LDO (90pc) — has had a direct
bearing on the two largest and the most important sectors of the
national economy, namely power and agriculture sectors.

FCY RETURN

The State Bank will pay 1.32 per cent return to the
banks and non-bank financial institutions in August on their 20 per cent
special foreign currency reserves, according to a SBP press release.

IN
JULY BANKS AND NBFIS WERE GETTING 1.34 PER CENT RETURN.

The banks are supposed to keep 5 per cent of their
new foreign currency deposits with the State Bank as mandatory cash
reserves and 20 per cent as special reserves. Whereas there is no return
on mandatory reserves the SBP pays a monthly return on special reserves.
The rate of return is linked with LIBOR (London Inter-bank offered
rates).

The two basis points cut in the return announced for
August is thus attributable to falling LIBOR.

EXCHANGE COMPANIES

Money changers are divided over the minimum paid-up
capital requirement set for the proposed foreign exchange companies: Big
money changers say Rs100 million paid-up capital is affordable but
smaller ones represented by Forex Association of Pakistan say it should
be lowered to Rs50 million to prevent monopoly.

EXIDE, AUTOMOTIVE POST LOSSES

Exide Pakistan Limited and its independently listed
subsidiary, Automotive Battery Company Limited posted after tax losses
for the quarter ended June 30, 2002. Exide reported after tax loss
amounting to Rs0.5 million and Automotive taxed loss of Rs1.2 million.

NWFP GETS $95M WB LOAN UNDER SAC

The World Bank has released over $95m loan to the
North West Frontier Province (NWFP) from its Structural Adjustment
Credit (SAC) facility, according to official sources.

In his budget speech on June 28, the provincial
finance minister Farid Rehman had announced that World Bank would
provide $90m loan to NWFP government during the 2002-03 financial year.

PUNJAB RECEIVES 71PC OF FARM LOAN

For a variety of reasons, farmers in Punjab continue
to receive out of proportion bulk amount of agricultural production and
development loans keeping farmers of Sindh, Balochistan, NWFP and Azad
Kashmir fund starved.

Official figures show that during 01-02 fiscal
farmers in Punjab were given more than Rs31 billion loans as against
hardly Rs13 billion given to farmers in Sindh, Balochistan, NWFP and
Azad Kashmir.